H. Y. Hanna's New Cozy Series - An English Garden Cottage Mystery!

Do you love strolling through a garden, especially when flowers begin to bloom? One of my passions has been to build garden rooms throughout my primary area outside my log cabin. No, it is not an English garden--it would require many more plantings close to each other. While I like that, adding to a garden each year is more important, as more and more land has been cleared  and finding spots to plant is part of my fun. In the author's trilogy, I got involved with learning about English Cottage flowers and enjoyed it, but it was the mystery that always pulls me most into the storyline...

H. Y. Hanna got a new fan when I bought one of the books in the English Cottage Garden Mystery series...I immediately bought the other two to catch up and follow the fun and informative book series by Hanna.

First, it had a cat on the front...and I was excited to meet the cat character--who belongs to a neighbor and a dog character who belongs to another neighbor...both natural enemies (or are they?) are constantly fighting.

Both are a joy to watch as they are constantly included throughout the book!

What I really enjoyed, though, was how informative the book was regarding the flowers that could be used in the Cottage Garden. As many know, I'm always looking for new additions to my yard...and was grateful for this excellent exploration of plants and flowers...

Hanna begins her new series with Poppy Lancaster, the main character, working in a dead-end job but soon has a wonderful surprise when a solicitor contacted her about her grandmother dying and her being her only heir. Sadly, Poppy's mother had left home before Poppy was born, so she had never known anything about her relatives, if she had any. She had been told that her mother was rather wild in her teen years and, as a groupie, had become pregnant...by one of the guys in the band...

Now she had inherited an English cottage, which also had a huge garden. Only one thing...in order to get her inheritance, she had to live and take over the family cottage garden and bring it back to life. Thinking she would sell it, she still decided to visit the cottage, mainly because she did't have the money for an overnight stay. She was thrilled that the inside of the cottage was not in bad shape, even though the garden had become overgrown and full of weeds. But as she settled inside, she decided to check out the garden--and found to her delight that many of the flowers were peeking out of hidden places...

But when Oren screamed out further away, "Noo-oww!" (Yes, Poppy decided that the cat's meow sounds like Now--and even How, sometimes! The entire dialogue between the two of them is a delightful play on Oren's vocal statements. Poppy and I were both delighted.) But when she followed the meow, she found...a hand...attached to a body...with lots of flowers dragged and falling around the area.

Could it be one of her nearest neighbors--an inventor and an author... Can she risk getting to know them both better as she searches for clues?

Yes, a Cozy Mystery that is cat oriented...My favorites for at least 30 years back to when Lillian Braun was still writing...And I've never been disappointed with how the storyline is woven around the cat character to the amateur investigator... 

Great beginning and on to the second in series!

In the second in series, Poppy begins to learn about the danger of poisonous flowers...the hard way... But while that's happening, Poppy has fallen in love with a male with ginger hair...and he can often be found, indeed more than often, at Poppy's house where he is welcome always! Of course, he happens to be owned by a crime author, who somehow thinks he is more than qualified to find whodunit...

Just getting started on her new project of a canine scent garden, Poppy is, sadly, immediately stopped when the next-door neighbor drops dead...She had come over to meddle in how Poppy planned to start the garden, when she turned to leave and dropped to the ground... It should probably be spotlighted that Poppy knew very little about flowers or gardens...still, she was willing to try...

Readers will learn that there are many flowers in a garden that can be used to poison, most times unknowingly... But when a plant is chosen because of its poisonous capability, then considering whodunit, within an area known for gardens can get very...intoxicating...

Poppy is wavering about staying at the cottage inherited from her grandmother, recognizing she knows absolutely nothing about planting, seeding, nor the business... However, as she becomes known as the granddaughter of Mrs. Lancaster who had served the community with such beautiful flowers, she discovered that many were willing to talk about what she needed to do, how to select and plant, and more. When her neighbor returned several books borrowed from her grandmother, she began reading in earnest...and soon was identifying flowers beyond those that are normally known, such as roses, tulips...  

We get to meet Einstein, who in this book falls head over heels with a poodle, owned by a doting and rich woman living nearby... (Check him out in the front cover above.) When she learned who Poppy is, she immediately assumed that she was "skilled" and asked her to create a canine scent garden! Poppy was optimistic, and in need of money, when she said, "yes." But when she actually started working the project after being stopped for a second murder, she was very nervous...

Poppy also gets to meet and become friends with Nick, a writer, who comes to share Oren, with her and just happens to be with her, when the next murder is found at a community event where a dog race, in which Einstein, the dog who belongs to an inventor, the other next-door neighbor, is running... The murder victim was the main leader of this event...

Mystery solving is always fun, albeit, sad to have murders happen, in a cozy mystery...loving this series... Enjoy the first three! Highly recommended


GABixlerReviews

It's been a very hot summer this year...blooms appear and leave quickly...

But with  H. Y. Hanna...there'll be more books in this series!

Watch for them!